Conference Details

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We're pleased to announce the Startup 2009 conference, which will take place in New York during Internet Week on Wednesday, June 3. The conference is co-hosted by Silicon Alley Insider andNew York University's Stern School of Business, with support from founding sponsor General Catalyst Partners.

Startup 2009 will showcase 10 top startups competing for bragging rights, buzz, and a $50,000 prize. It will also feature in-depth conversations with Jason Calacanis and John Battelle, two entrepreneurs who built great companies, saw them get destroyed in a crash, and then got right back up and did it again. We'll also have panels on How To Raise A Boatload Of Money In A Crappy Market At A Huge Valuation (3 top VCs) and The 10 Biggest Mistakes Promising Companies Make.

The conference will take place on June 3, 2009, at the Schimmel Auditorium at NYU's Stern School. It will be the first of what we hope will become an annual forum for outstanding entrepreneurs and early-stage companies to meet VCs, investors, journalists, and other members of the East Coast startup community.

Startup 2009 will be a one-day conference featuring interviews with entrepreneurs, expert panels, networking, and ten featured startups competing for a $50,000 Grand Prize.

Speakers will include:

Jason Calacanis, Founder/CEO Mahalo, founder Weblogs, former EIR at Sequoia. In his return to Silicon Alley, Jason will describe what it's like to build a thriving company out of thin air, become a global media star, and then get steamrolled by a collapsing economy. More importantly, he'll explain how he managed to get up and do it all over again.

John Battelle, Founder/Chairman/CEO, Federated Media; author The Search and Searchblog, former CEO, The Industry Standard. John also built a huge company (Industry Standard ), watched it get destroyed in the dotcom bust, and then bounced back up and did it all over again.

Chris R. HughesCofounder, Facebook.com. Chris co-founded and served as spokesperson for the online social directory, Facebook, with Harvard roommates Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz. Hughes currently serves as a consultant for the popular site, but primarily acts as coordinator of online organizing within the Barack Obama presidential campaign on My.BarackObama.com, the campaign's online social networking website.

Kevin Ryan, CEO Alleycorp; former CEO Doubleclick; founder Gilt Groupe, Silicon Alley Insider, Shopwiki, Panther, 10gen. Kevin built DoubleClick from a New York-based startup with a dozen employees to a global behemoth with 1500. Then he shrunk it to 750 people, sold it, and launched six New York-based, venture-backed startups, including the highly successful Gilt Groupe. Kevin will explain what he's learned from this 15-year ride--and why you should never bother with a business plan.

Our VC partners will serve as judges:

George Bell, partner General Catalyst Partners; former CEO Excite, Excite@Home, and Upromise; board member Big Fish Games; Going; HubSpot; PhotoShelter; ShortTail Media and WonderHowTo. In the late 1990s, George built Excite from a tiny startup to a global behemoth. He then merged it with @Home and became CEO of the combined company.

Rick Heitzmann, founder/Managing Director, FirstMark Capital; board member Clickable, Live Gamer, weplay, Riot Games and New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Eric Hippeau, managing partner, SoftBank Capital.

Jeanne Sullivan, general partner, StarVest Partners.

David Pakman, partner, Venrock, former CEO eMusic.

Matt Marshall, Editor-in-Chief of VentureBeat and co-executive producer of DEMO, and Dan Frommer, Senior Editor of Silicon Alley Insider, will also serve as judges.

Matt Marshall,editor and CEO, VentureBeat.

Dan Frommer, senior editor, The Business Insider.

The Contest

The startup contest is now closed. Hundreds of emerging online companies submitted applications to present at the conference. The Top 10 were announced on Silicon Alley Insider and will present on stage at the conference and compete for a $75,000 Grand Prize.

Applying to the conference was free*, and all companies that applied were evaluated by General Catalyst Parnters, Softbank Capital, StarVest Partners, Venrock, and FirstMark Capital for possible investment.

At the end of the conference, one of the Top 10 will also win a $50,000 Grand Prize, which will consist of a $25,000 cash investment from General Catalyst Partners and $50,000 of in-kind services. The latter will include: